The first restaurant I went to on a low carb diet was Ruby Tuesday, and I was thrilled with the choices. How are they doing now that they have a special menu just for low carb dieters?

My original Ruby Tuesday Review was thrilled with their salad bar, and I still find this to be very true. Pretty much no matter WHAT diet you are on - Atkins, South Beach, low fat, the Zone, etc - this salad bar is perfect for you. It has a huge variety of very fresh vegetables, greens, pastas, and more. You choose whatever suits your diet, choose what dressings you enjoy and it is perfect.

My boyfriend and I both got their salad and loved it on our last trip. All around us, people were getting the salad bar and enjoying their meals.

We were very impressed with the low carb menu setup. In essence, the main menu had a symbol by each low carb dish, which was a fair number of their dishes. A separate book then gave ALL details on each of those dishes, as well as information on low carb diets in general. All fried foods at Ruby Tuesday's are done in canola oil, which is also great. This is far easier to deal with and fair to all eaters, vs the TGIF's technique of charging more for "low carb" versions of their dishes.

I got a fish dinner with mashed cauliflower and broccoli. It was really good! The mashed cauliflower is a staple of our normal diet and the more people that learn about this treat, the more people that will stop even thinking about mashed potatoes.

If we have one complaint about Ruby Tuesday's, it's the price. Yes, the salad bar is a great deal. But the wines here are much higher priced than any other similar restaurant, and while the dishes are on par with say Applebee's or TGIF's (OK but not scrumptious) their prices are much higher than those other locations. So you're paying a premium for the name that the food doesn't hold up to.

Still, I love the effort they're making and I just can't say enough about the salad bar. I would definitely say, if you can go and have the salad bar and water or tea, this is PERFECT for low carbing. If you want to have some wine with it, or choose a main dish, make this an occasional treat. The cost is just a little high compared to other choices you have out there. You could use this more as an occasional "research trip" to try their low carb dishes, so you can figure out how to make them for yourself at home!